Daily Prophet newsletter 2

Page 1 – Headlines:ENQUIRY AT THE IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
The disappearance of a Muggle “tube train” led to the suspension of a Ministry of Magic employee. [Cornelius Fudge is incidentally revealed as a Gobstones fan.] The unnamed Daily Prophet reporter revealed that the offender was the Minister’s nephew, Rufus Fudge, who did it for a bet. The Muggles did not notice that the train had gone missing.

Calendar and Dates

Although the date printed on DP2 is 8 February 1999, the timeframe for these events is 1992-1993.

Interesting facts and notes

The Liverpool concert that the injured Celestina Warbeck fans were rushing to catch was part of her "Flighty Aphrodite" tour (Pm).

Memorable lines

‘Alasdair made a simple mistake, which admittedly cost us the match and made us slip to third place in the League. I am quite sure, however, that nothing like this will happen again. He will certainly be unable to kick the Snitch if I turn him into a jellyfish, which is the sort of simple mistake I might allow myself one of these days.’ - Cormack McLeod, manager of the Magpies, speaking about Alasdair Maddock, a Chaser who is becoming overly fond of Muggle sports

Deaths: Warlock Demetrius J. Prod
November 27th, very noisily at home after an argument about the washing-up. Sadly missed by wife Elsie.

‘It was only supposed to be a bit of fun. ....Rufus wanted to see how long it would take the Muggles to notice that one of their trains had gone into a tunnel and not come out again, so we took bets round the office. Rufus won; he said it would take ages and he was right. Seems it happens all the time. Took the Muggles an hour and a half to realize the train had vanished into thin air.’

Commentary

Demetrius J. Prod is mentioned and, from the context, he seems to be the same person as the D.J. Prod who wrote in praise of KwikSpell in book two (CS8).

A. Weasley's battery collection has obviously outstripped his wife's capacity to tolerate its existence.... However, they are still in his possession in book four (or else he started a new collection) (GF4).